The present invention relates to a tape loading mechanism for magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and, more particularly to a tape loading mechanism for magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus which can prevent a magnetic tape from being damaged during tape loading process to accomplish highly reliable tape loading.
In usual tape loading mechanisms for magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatuses in which a magnetic tape is used to record and/or play back signals as recording medium, the magnetic tape is pulled out of a tape cassette in recording or playing back, is wound on a rotatable cylinder having magnetic heads built therein to form a tape traveling path, and is retracted for the tape traveling path into the tape cassette at the end of recording or play-back. The tape loading mechanisms heretofore used for magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatuses are desirable in some fields. However, they have the disadvantage in that they involve mechanism to a great extent in view of small size and light weight construction as the entire structure is determined greatly depending on forming the tape traveling path as the mechanism.
Therefore, many types of tape traveling system have been proposed to make the entire apparatus small size and light weight. The apparatus described, for example, in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-160362 was designed so that magnetic tape in a tape cassette is led toward a tape approaching side for a revolving cylinder in a slanted direction by tape guides while its height is being changed in reference to a chassis, and the magnetic tape is led to a tape leaving side of the revolving cylinder by other tape guides. The apparatus is very desirable in making its entire body thin as it is possible to form a tape traveling path having large difference of a tape approaching height to the cylinder from a tape cassette height with the cylinder being made upright to the chassis.
However, the apparatus have the disadvantages described below. The tape is drawn out of the tape cassette as its height is gradually changed with it being contact with a plurality of tape guides. The tape may be twisted between the tape guides unless postures of the tape guides are precisely controlled in loading or unloading. This results in that the widthwise tension distribution of the tape is not made uniform so that the tape tends to move the widthwise of each tape guide. This causes the tape to strongly touch the flange of the tape guide, damaging it.
If the postures of the tape guides are attempted to be precisely controlled to prevent the tape from being damaged, then the loading mechanism is complicated.
In order to overcome above mentioned disadvantages, an improved tape loading mechanism was disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-124651 in which a movable auxiliary guide member was provided near the tape traveling path to touch only the magnetic tape on the course of loading, and can be retracted from the tape traveling path at the end of loading.